Wash this blood clean from my hand

Books

A letter of Mary by

The more I read of this series the more I come to love the characters, and indeed the whole set-up. Mary Russell is such a believable character, and King’s Holmes is just perfect.

The mystery at the heart of this novel concerns the death of Dorothy Ruskin. An archaeologist working in Jerusalem, she met up with Russell and Holmes when they travelled the area back in book one. In this book she comes to visit them, bringing with her an exquisite wooden box which contains a parchment on which is written a letter, from Mary of Magdala to her sister. Was it really written by the infamous Mary Magdalen? And was the car accident that killed her really an accident?

15 February 2010
Books

A monstrous regiment of women by

Author: Laurie R. King
A Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery #2

I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series that I’ve read, but this one I loved. Totally loved it.

It is 1921 and our hero, Mary Russell, has finished her undergraduate course at Oxford. She is also about to come into her inheritance. Her life on the brink of being totally her own. No longer a ward of her aunt’s; she will be able to live as she chooses. But how will she choose, and what does she want to do with her life? Will she pursue an academic career with her interest in theology? Or does her future lie with Holmes and the life of a detective?

2 February 2010
Books

The beekeeper’s apprentice by

Author: Laurie R. King
A Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery #1
I read the most recent of this series recently, and really enjoyed it, so of course I had to pick up the first in the series and get introduced to the characters properly. I just couldn’t shake the impression that I was missing out on so much when I read The language of bees. And, of course, one should always begin at the beginning. It is a very good place to start, or so I’ve heard.

18 January 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Sherlock Holmes dir. by

Based on books by Arthur Conan Doyle IMDb ; Sherlock Holmes Guy Ritchie’s re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes is quite a different man from the detective that might pop into your head...

10 January 2010
Books

The language of bees by

Author: Laurie R. King
A Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery #9
It was only after I’d taken this book home that I realised it was one in a series, but I figured that it was more of a ‘verse type of series, so I read it anyway. According to wikipedia it is book 9 although only 2 others seem to have been published in Britain & Ireland. Or maybe it’s just that they switched publishers, I didn’t really look to closely into it to be honest. I’ll check at work tomorrow and see if we have any others but I won’t be hugely disappointed if we don’t.

13 December 2009
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Changeling dir. by

It is 1920’s Los Angeles and single mother Christine Collins is trying to raise her boy. One Sat she is called in to work and when she returns home little Walter Collins is nowhere to be found. The police set about looking and eventually, after 5 months they bring him back. Only the boy they return to Christine is different; she is, however, informed that those changes are the result of her shock and the boys trauma. Why it is quite the done thing for a boy to shrink 4 inches as a result of such a horrifying encounter. And circumcised now you say? Well it is healthy, and who knows what that drifter may have been thinking. Ms. Collins is not about to rest however. She wants her boy back.

4 December 2008
Books

When we were orphans by

ISBN: 057120516x ; Other Reviews The narrator of this book, Christopher Banks, is a renowned detective in the 1930’s. One of England’s most famous detectives. Yet one case has always troubled...

22 November 2008
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Gone Baby Gone dir. by

This film’s release here and in Britain was delayed for a considerable time due to the supposed similarities between the plot and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. I can see what it happened, but in reality there aren’t that many similarities. The film is about Patrick Kenzie and his “associate” Angie Gennaro who have been hired to track down a missing child, Amanda McCready. Almost at once they find out that the media story isn’t quite the truth.

10 June 2008
Books

This Night’s Foul Work

Author: Fred Vargas
Trans: Sian Reynolds

As you may already know I’m a big fan of Fred Vargas’ work and while this one is a library copy I’ll be buying this when it comes out in the proper size. I can’t stand these trade publications versions. They make no sense to me. All the negatives of a hardback with none of the positives. But enough about that; on to the plot.

The most straight-forward way of describing this book is to say that it is a murder-mystery. But with characters like Adamsberg there is no such thing as a straight-forward case. So when he spots something a little “off” about the two bodies that have shown up he decides that this case his rather than giving them over to the Drugs Squad.

18 May 2008
Books

Christine Falls by

ISBN: 9780330445320 Book 1 in the Quirke series See also: MetaCritic ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; PopMatters ; She was glad it was the evening mailboat she was taking, for she...

15 April 2008
Books

Wash this blood clean from my hand by

trans. Sian Reynolds
I’m a huge fan of Fred Vargas’ work. And this book is no exception. The star, once more, is Commissaire Adamsberg. The plot revolves around a series of murders, the first in 1943, the latest takes place in the present of the book. Adamsberg has a special interest in this case, and the judge he believes to have committed these crimes. In each case the murder victim is killed by three stab wounds. And in each case an assailant has been found, always suffering from amnesia but also having a murder weapon in his possession. In each case the police decide that this individual is responsible and, there you go, case closed. Adamsberg is not so sure.

18 February 2008
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